$7.2 Million Restored to
L.A. County Library Budget
The Los Angeles County board of supervisors voted on June 26 to restore $7.2 million to the County of Los Angeles Public Library budget, according to the June 27 Los Angeles Times. In May, the county board had recommended cutting the library’s budget by $8.4 million. It was estimated that the library would either have to reduce hours of service by one-third or close 15 branches, with service reductions at other branches, to meet that budget.
“We’re really grateful to the board and relieved,” County Librarian Margaret Donnellan Todd told the Times. “We did not want to close libraries or reduce hours, and we know the board didn’t want to either.”
The library had just restored full-time schedules to all of its 84 branches after having their budget cut from $62.4 million to $43.4 million in 1993. To deal with that budget reduction, 10 branches were closed, service hours were cut by 21%, and the acquisition budget was halved.
But there could be further budget woes: The plan does not take into account any reduction in state funding, because legislators have not yet approved a state budget.
Posted July 1, 2002.
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